Pre-booking specialty restaurants and shows

[littleengine]

Hi everyone... I'm taking my first cruise in January on the Epic. I've booked a studio cabin and would like to pre book a few of the specialty restaurants and shows, and I have a few questions about it.

 

1 - Since I'm in a studio and traveling solo, when I book the restaurants I'll have to put '1' for the number of people. When I show up at the restaurant, do I literally get a table for 1, or do they put people together at larger tables?

 

2 - If, after I get on board and meet the other studio cabin travelers (or others at cc meet & greets), and find I'd rather dine with some of them, how easy is it to change my dining for '1' to dining with that specific group? And, how easy is it to change nights if it turns out they're interested in going to the same restaurant, just on a different night than I'd pre-booked? I just want to make sure the process to make this change (if seats are available on the new night/time) is fairly easy. I'm assuming the staff working in the studio lounge would be able to help me make these changes, or would I have to go to the Customer Service desk?

 

Finally, a few questions re: dining in general...

 

How do the staff know who's ordered what? Do they swipe your card before you order, or just take your order and enter it into a terminal and bring you a 'bill' at the end of the meal and swipe your card like you would a credit card at a regular restaurant?

 

If things get added that you didn't order (i.e. bottle of wine someone else at your table ordered got added to your bill instead of theirs), is this something you can see and have corrected right away, or it has to be handled at the end of the cruise once the final tally is done?

 

Do you have to swipe your card for every single thing you get from every restaurant, even the buffet?

 

What types of snacks are offered on the Epic? If you're watching a movie or relaxing, sometimes you don't necessarily want french fries or a slice of pizza or a serving of dessert... Do any restaurants offer 'real' snacks like chips, candy, etc?

 

Thanks!

[Demonyte]

1. In speciality restaurants every party usually sits by themselves so you'd probably get a table for 2.

 

2. Yes, changes are possible but in your situation I wouldn't make arrangements in advance just for that reason (if you find other people to join you etc) - most speciality restaurants aren't usually fully booked, especially if you are at least a bit flexible with the dinner time.

 

About swiping card, they usually ask for the card when ordering beverages in the included food venues, in speciality restaurants it works just like on land, if there are several different payers on the table, you just need to tell the waitress who pays what - no biggie. You'll get a receipt that you need to sign so you obiviously check the contents of it right then and there.

 

No card swiping in included venues other than saving the statistics when they give you a table in MDRs - if you eat at the buffet (and possibly in O'Sheehan's) and do not order anything from the bar, you don't need to show your card at all.

 

For snacks there are somethings on the room service menu like BLT with chips or pizza ($5 fee) etc, I've also ordered some kid's dishes from room service like PB&J, no problems there. In buffet there are sometimes chips, sandwitches etc, but usually only on lunch time or if they are offering late night snacks. Candy is pretty much only available from ship's shop but there are a ton of different baked goods etc so I doubt thatmany would miss candy.

 

You can also go to any restaurant and ask for example a dessert to go, we sometimes go to Blue Lagoon (somewhat like O'Sheehan's on Epic) and ask for cheese cakes to take in to our cabin.